The present invention relates to repelling animals such as racoons and dogs from garbage as might be dispensed from a household or restaurant. In particular it relates to a composition which when applied to the garbage, preferably by spraying, will repel the animals while nevertheless being acceptable to humans from both an odor and safety viewpoint.
It is a common problem in urban, suburban and less populated areas to have animals foraging in garbage cans and refuse holders used for disposal of the normal accumulation of garbage from households, restaurants and other establishments. This is also a problem at camp sites where animals are attracted by leftovers. Typically such animals are dogs, racoons or cats as well as other possible creatures in less urban areas. The racoon in particular has been known to be both tenacious and clever in getting at garbage even when maintained in covered receptacles.
Due to the long standing nature of this problem one might expect that an effective solution would be in common use. This is not the case. During experimentation it has been found that many chemicals and extracts of plants which might have been expected to repel the animals were not effective for such use. Examples included cinnamic aldehyde, peppermint oil, methyl salicylate and benzaldehyde, among many others.
The inventor is not aware of any commercial product presently sold for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,255 discloses applying cyclohexyl compounds and certain substituted cyclohexyl isocyanates and thiocyanates to an animal or its habitat as a repellent.